How do you know you exist? - James Zucker

Translator: Mehmet Sıddık Dilek Reviewer: Hekim Atay

How do you know you're real?

Hûn çawa dizanin ku hûn birastî hene?

It's an obvious question until you try to answer it,

Heta mirov li ser nefikire pirs hesan xuya dike.

but let's take it seriously.

Haydê em li bersivê bigerin.

How do you really know you exist?

Hûn çawa dizanin ku hûn birastî hene?

In his "Meditations on First Philosophy,"

Di pirtûka "Meditations on First Philosophy,"

René Descartes tried to answer that very question,

René Descartes hewil dike bersiv bide gelek pirsan.

demolishing all his preconceived notions and opinions

Hemû raman û mefhûmê kevin radike,

to begin again from the foundations.

ji serî dest pê dike.

All his knowledge had come from his sensory perceptions of the world.

Hemû zanyariyen tên, ji hîsên tê tên.

Same as you, right?

Wisa ye,ne?

You know you're watching this video with your eyes, hearing it with your ears.

Tu zanî ku bi çavan dibînî, bi guhan dibihîsî.

Your senses show you the world as it is.

Hîsê te dinyayê nîşanî te dikin.

They aren't deceiving you, but sometimes they do.

Te naxapînin, lê carina jî dixapînin.

You might mistake a person far away for someone else,

Ji dûr yekî xelat dibînin,

or you're sure you're about to catch a flyball,

an bi bawer te gogê bigire,

and it hits the ground in front of you.

lê gog dikeve ber te.

But come on, right here and now,

Lê ha niha û li vir,

you know what's right in front of you is real.

hûn dizanin li pêş we çi rast e.

Your eyes, your hands, your body: that's you.

Çavên tê, destên te, bedena te: tu yî.

Only crazy people would deny that, and you know you're not crazy.

Tenê yekî dîn qebul nake û hûn ne dîn in.

Anyone who'd doubt that must be dreaming.

Hercî guman bike dive xewnê de be .

Oh no, what if you're dreaming?

Oo,belkî tu jî di xewnê de yî?

Dreams feel real.

Xewn rastî xuya dikin.

You can believe you're swimming, flying

Di xewnan de,tu difirî

or fighting off monsters with your bare hands,

bi destê xwe şerê cinawira dike,

when your real body is lying in bed.

lê bi rastî tu dirêjkirî yî.

No, no, no.

Na,na,na.

When you're awake, you know you're awake.

Dema hûn şiyar in, hûn dizanin ku hûn şiyar in.

Ah! But when you aren't, you don't know you aren't,

Lê dema tu ne şiyar î, tu nizanî tu ne şiyar î.

so you can't prove you aren't dreaming.

Lewma tu nikare îspat bike ku tu ne xewnê de yî.

Maybe the body you perceive yourself to have isn't really there.

Belkî bedena te niha ne li vir e.

Maybe all of reality, even its abstract concepts,

Belkî hemû rastî

like time, shape, color and number are false,

wek zeman,dirûv,reng û hejmar

all just deceptions concocted

derewên ku zanistê bedbext

by an evil genius!

li hev anîn e.

No, seriously.

Na, ne wisa jî..

Descartes asks if you can disprove the idea that an evil genius demon

Descartes dibêje fikrê ku hûn zorê nebin

has tricked you into believing reality is real.

bila zanistê bedbext jî bêjin, ras tin.

Belkî bi van fikrên tevlihev tu tê xapandin.

Perhaps this diabolical deceiver has duped you.

The world, your perceptions of it, your very body.

Dinyaya ku hûn hîs dikin,bedena we ye.

You can't disprove that they're all just made up,

Tu nikare bedena xwe înkar bikî.

and how could you exist without them?

Bê wê tu ê çawa hebî?

You couldn't! So, you don't.

Hûn nikarin bêyî wan.

Life is but a dream,

Jiyan xewnekê,

and I bet you aren't row, row, rowing the boat merrily at all, are you?

hûn nikarin bê encam bi kef li ber xwe bidin?

Na,hûn westiyayî li ber xwe didin,

No, you're rowing it wearily

like the duped, nonexistent doof you are/aren't.

wek xapandî,wek bi rastî heyî an nîn.

Do you find that convincing?

Ev bi serê we ket?

Are you persuaded?

Hûn îkna bûn?

If you aren't, good; if you are, even better,

Ku hûn îkna bibin baş e, Ne bibin hê baştir e.

Çumkî hûn îkna bibin,

because by being persuaded,

you would prove that you're a persuaded being.

ev îspat dike hûn mirovekî îknakirî ne.

Hûn bifikirin hûn tiştek in, hûn ne tune ne.

You can't be nothing if you think you're something,

even if you think that something is nothing

Hetta hûn bêjin tiştek jî ne tiştekê,

because no matter what you think, you're a thinking thing,

hûn çi bifikirin bifikirin, hûn dibin tiştekî ku difikire.

or as Descartes put it, "I think, therefore I am,"

Wek Descartes gotî ''Ez difikirim lewra ez heme.''

and so are you, really.

û hun jî wisa.

(Airplane engine)